Soke of Peterborough County Council

Under the Local Government Act 1888, the Soke of Peterborough became a separate administrative county, distinct from the rest of Northamptonshire. The County Council took over many of the administrative responsibilities of the Quarter Sessions Court; but this formal change hid a great deal of continuity, as Justices of the Peace were often elected Councillors, the Clerk of the Peace became the Clerk to the County Council and so on. The County Council came into being on 1, April 1889 and expired on 31, March 1965, after which it was replaced by Huntingdon and Peterborough County Council.

During its life the County Council gradually acquired more and more powers, such as taking over the functions of school boards in 1902, Boards of Guardians in 1930, various town planning and housing responsibilities from 1949. The easiest way to get a grasp on all these functions is to read The Jubilee of County Councils 1889-1939, which summarises County Council responsibilities in a readable and informative manner. Other secondary sources worth consulting are Philip Riden, Record Sources for Local History (Batsford 1987) and R M Jackson, The Machinery of Local Government (Macmillan 1965).

The County Council exercised its various functions through committees which frequently had their names and powers changed. Huntingdon Record Office holds the main series of Council minutes 1889-1965 and notices of motion 1889-1963 as well as committee and sub-committee minutes on:

Agriculture (1920-1965)
Education (1903-1965)
Emergency services and public protection (1889-1965)
Finance and organisation (1889-1965)
Health and Social Services (1919-1965)
Planning (1947-1965)
Roads and bridges (1889-1965)

Huntingdon Record Office also holds a large series of Clerk's Department files (1889-1965), civil defence papers, treasurers records, inclosure records and many education department records including those of Peterborough Joint Education Board.

Northamptonshire Record Office also has material relating to the Soke of Peterborough County Council and its predecessors including:

Peterborough Standing Joint Committee of County Councillors and Magistrates

1889-1912: Draft minutes of meetings

Copies of Agendas and Minutes for:

County Council 1926-1940
Agriculture 1928-1940
Education 1926-1940

Files of Correspondence about National Schools:

Barnack 1903-1904
Castor, 1903-1904
Dogsthorpe 1903-1904
Eye 1903-1904
Werrington 1903-1904
Wittering 1903-1904

Files of correspondence re Council Schools:

Helpston, 1903-1904
Maxey, 1903-1904
Northborough 1903-1904
Thornhaugh, 1903-1904

Files of Correspondence re ex Church of England or Independent Schools:

Bainton Ashton and Ufford, 1903-1904
Castor Infants Church School, 1903-1904
Deacons School, Peterborough, 1903-1906
Longthorpe Parochial School, 1903-1905
Marholm Church School, 1903-1905
Newark Hamlet St Mary's Church School, 1903-1905
Newborough Parochial School, 1903-1904

Miscellaneous education files and volumes 1903-1910.

Wartime correspondence and papers 1939-1945.

Financial statements 1890-1903.

Peterborough Corporation, Abstracts of Audited Accounts of the City and Borough, 1888-1898, 1921.

Reports and Estimates on Improvement of navigation of the River Nene, 1837.

Posters relating to the Disease of Animals Acts.

Copies of Soke of Peterborough County Council Minutes are available for consultation at Peterborough Central Library.